Zone Magazine Issue 033 - Jan Johnson
In our feature interviews in this issue we talk to cover legendess vocalist and producer JAN JOHNSTON. A name that for Trance and Progressive fans simply means quality. Starting out in the early ‘90s with short-lived pop band JJ, her fortunes took an upward sweep working firstly with the King of Trance, BT on his ECSM album, and then Australian powerhouse Anthony Pappa (as Freefall) on breakthrough release ‘Skydive’. Signings to Perfecto, Universal and more has spread the Jan Johnson gospel and showcased not only her vocal talents, but also her song writing abilities. Soundtrack syncs and contributions to Grammy Award nominated albums as well as 4 solo albums and countless singles has kept this doyen of the scene at the top of her profession.
In our feature interviews in this issue we talk to cover legendess vocalist and producer JAN JOHNSTON. A name that for Trance and Progressive fans simply means quality. Starting out in the early ‘90s with short-lived pop band JJ, her fortunes took an upward sweep working firstly with the King of Trance, BT on his ECSM album, and then Australian powerhouse Anthony Pappa (as Freefall) on breakthrough release ‘Skydive’.
Signings to Perfecto, Universal and more has spread the Jan Johnson gospel and showcased not only her vocal talents, but also her song writing abilities. Soundtrack syncs and contributions to Grammy Award nominated albums as well as 4 solo albums and countless singles has kept this doyen of the scene at the top of her profession.
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ABLETON LIVE 11
8.5
It’s hard to believe it's been nearly 2 years since Ableton released
version 10. Released in February 2018, it was an update to the much
loved, and divisive DAW that, before that, users had waited 5 years for.
Now it has been officially announced that Ableton version 11 will be
released early in 2021.
Expression View gives the user a whole new dimension regarding their
midi editing.
Musicians wanting new toys, rest assured there is plenty of new stuff to
play with in Live 11.
At first glance, you would be fooled into thinking there has been some
minor tweaking with the interface and look of Ableton, but don’t let that
fool you, dig just beneath the surface, and you will find a whole host of
new features, devices and capabilities that will allow your workflow to
increase, and your creativity to run wild. Let's dive in and check out some
of the key new features.
One of the characteristics of live that has made it a favorite with
performers from the offset, is its real-time performance features. It has
always encouraged musicians to jam out and see what happens. With
this, Live 11 can now automatically follow the tempo of an incoming
audio stream. This opens up a whole new aspect of preforming within
Live alongside, say a live band or a DJ. On top of this, lives Macro
features have been upgraded allowing users to snapshot record and recall
Macro settings on the fly. Alongside that you can now assign up to 16
Macros to entire racks, giving musicians even more opportunity to
customize their midi settings and controllers.
Instrument wise we have String Quartet, Brass Quartet and Upright
Piano. More than enough to get some new creative juices flowing. Whilst
in the effects department, Live 11 brings us a whole host of new toys to
mangle your sounds with. Hybrid Reverb combines algorithmic and
convoluted reverbs to as Ableton put “create any space”.
Pitch Loop 89 saw Ableton enlist Robert Henke, the renowned AV and
audio artist to create an audio processor that will meet all your glitch
needs. Spectral Resonator is a unique granular processor that slices audio
into microscopic pieces and allows you to create individual spectral
resonances. In a similar vein, Spectral Time applies effects to the
individual audio slices.
One aspect of the new update that Ableton are keeping quite close to
their chest is the new Live Suite Inspired by Nature. It is a new
collaboration with long time partner Dillon Baston. Aswell as this we have
new sound sets Voice Box, Mood Reel and Drone Lab.
Ableton have also listened to the cries of its users with regards to
features that are available in other DAWs. Two main new features for 11
have given fans what they wanted. Firstly Comping, allowing users to
record multiple takes in one session, and edit them to create the perfect
version. It has been a feature of Pro Tools since its earliest incarnations
and is finally here to allow speedy recording and editing. Secondly Linked
–track Editing is a feature that allows users to group a selection of two or
more tracks and edit the content together with sample accurate timing.
Midi has been given an overhaul, with full integration of MIDI Polyphonic
Expression, or MPE. With MPE supported, you can record and edit multidimensional
performance data from Rolis, LINNstruments, Keith McMillen
controllers and many more that support it. This coupled with the new
Aswell as this we’ve been reassured there are also several performance
tweaks and optimization of the user interface and cpu metering. We’re all
looking forward to getting stuck in and seeing what we can come up with
the new version of Ableton, and from the looks of it we won't have to wait
too long.
Ableton Live 11 will be available early next 2012, and will cost €79 for
Live Intro, €349 for Live Standard and €599 for Live Suite. Preorders will
be subject to a 20 percent discount, and upgrade paths for owners of
previous versions are, of course, available.
Words By John Ricketts
All images courtesy of Ableton
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